The Transition: Year Four At Hogwarts
by CNJ
Summary: As Lily & her friends begin Year 4 at Hogwarts & enter adolescence, they encounter more world issues as they struggle thru puberty. Strong language and controversial issues.
1. Default Chapter

** _ A/N:_** Thanks for reviewing away on my story on Lily's first year; there'll be more on that hopefully soon; I'm still piecing together a few details. Heyy, it looked like my theories on Lily and James were right; I right book 5 and thought, Wooogh, woogh, and woogh! Now more than ever, I know Harry is very much like Lily, so in my stories, many of Lily's experiences and behavior will be similar to her son's, more so than James. I also had it guessed right when I knew that James and Lily didn't hang out together until year 7; I somehow knew Lily wasn't the type of girl who'd just hang around a group of guys all the time. 

Alllll right, enough self-congrats and upward and onward...the usual disclaimers that characters that avid HP readers and movie-watchers recognize don't belong to the current author; they all belong to JK Rowlings. Thanks, JK, esp. for creating the wonderful Lily and her enchanting son! So, now begins Lily and her friends' fourth year where they'll enter adolescence and puberty, become aware of the good, the beautiful and the bad and ugly in the world...   
  
  


**The Transition: Year Four at Hogwarts**

_By_: CNJ 

_PG-13_

**1: Exchanges**

"Lily's thinking of becoming either a psychologist or a barrister when she grows up," Mum told her friend Olivia Roy on a warm afternoon in mid-July. They were in the kitchen talking and I was out in the backyard lying on the grass. I was completing my last summer homework assignment. 

"Good thing, since she's what...almost fourteen?" Olivia responded. "She's always struck me as a very together young girl...now if my own fifteen-year old had such clear plans..." 

I smiled softly as I listened on and off to my mum and her friend talk about us kids. Olivia has a daughter who's fifteen. I myself will be fourteen in two months and will start my fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Sound like a strange name? Well, not to most magical people, but to most non-magic people, also known as muggles, it sounds unusual. 

I've been a Hogwarts student since I was eleven. The school runs seven years. Some witches and wizards like my friend, Zara Vinn, come from families that are all magical, while others, like my other friend, Amelia Kovacs, come from families that are a fine mix of muggles and magical. Still others like myself come from all muggle families. 

I finished the assignment, closed my books and sat back, letting out my breath in relief. It was a very hot day...in the eighties at least, which is unusual for London, England. I think I dozed off there on the grass because the next thing I knew, Mum was calling me to help her set the table for dinner. I gathered my books and went in. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"...so can Amelia and Zara sleep over tomorrow night?" I asked Mum and Dad at dinner. 

"Sure..." They nodded. 

"Thanks." I'd owl them after dinner and invite them over. Just then, my older sister, Petunia came barreling in with her boyfriend, Vernon in tow. 

"Hey, you started without me?" she whined. 

"You know we eat at six-thirty," Mum told her firmly. Petunia heaved a gusty sigh and sat, moving Vernon in as if he'd been invited to dinner. 

"Hello, Vernon..." Dad said. "We still have some asparagus and rice if you want to help yourself to some of that." Vernon pulled one of the living room chairs and sat and nearly emptied out the rice dish into his plate. Petunia whispered something and Vernon then snickered with a mouthful of food. 

"Petunia...no whispering at the table," Mum told her. 

"Can't I even have some privacy around here with my boyfriend with my freak of a sister listening in?" Petunia complained, fanning herself with a pile of napkins. 

"Not at the dinner table and especially not if you call your sister names," Dad stated. I mainly tried to ignore Petunia and Vernon and just kept eating, even though my stomach had tightened. Petunia's nineteen and the biggest pain in the arse. Vernon's even worse. It'd be nice if she moved out, so I wouldn't have to dread holidays, but so far she hasn't shown any sign of it, even though she dropped out of school at sixteen and still doesn't have a job yet. I just hope my parents don't let her mooch off them indefinitely and certainly hope they don't let Vernon move in here. Several times this summer, Petunia's brought Vernon over without consulting my parents. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"What do you mean, Vernon can't stay over this weekend?!" I could hear my sister bellowing the next morning. It was Friday morning and tonight my friends would be here. 

"First of all, Vernon dropped in again without our consent and secondly, Lily's having her friends over this weekend," Mum told her. 

"That little abnormality ruins everything for me!" Petunia threw something across the room. I could hear a smash of a dish or cup. "You let her freaky, abnormal friends here at all hours, yet you don't let my normal boyfriend over for even a day!!" 

"That's enough out of you!" Dad told her. "Go upstairs right this minute, tell Vernon that he has to leave, that other company's coming, and you might want to stay up there for the rest of the morning and think over how selfishly you've been acting." 

"Go!" Mum added after a pause in which I knew Petunia was giving my parents nasty looks. Petunia stormed up the stairs and I could hear the door to her room slam. I heard Vernon and Petunia's low voices complaining, then Vernon barreling down the stairs and out of the house, banging the door. I turned over in my bed and let out my breath in relief. 

I think now my parents are less tolerant of Petunia's nonsense. I'm glad they stood up to her tantrum today. Once I was sure Petunia was going to stay in her room at least for the morning, I got up, got dressed and headed down for something to eat. 

"Good morning, dear," Mum greeted. "There's some tea in the pot if you want some." 

"Morning...thanks," I poured myself some. 

"Hey, hope we didn't wake you..." Dad rinsed out his tea cup and plate. 

"I was already awake," I made myself a toast with apple butter and sat. My parents looked at each other in worry and I knew they still wanted to talk about what was going on with Petunia, but were reluctant to do it in front of me. I myself try not to let my parents know how much Petunia still often bothers me. I guess I don't want to trouble them even more than they are already by Petunia's behavior. It's something that I haven't even told my friends much about. They have an idea; they've been over here before and have seen Petunia's nasty attitude, so they know what she's like. But I don't think they or my parents know the full extent of Petunia's bullying...of me and her bullying of others that I've witnessed.   
  
  
  


More later! 


	2. 2: Good Riddance

Finally! Got some free time and completed the next chapter of this story! Sorry it took a while; I've been busy. Wow, it's becoming more and more obvious each day that Harry really takes after Lily personality-wise. The usual disclaimers that characters that HP fans recognize are not mine; they belong to JK Rowling. In addition, be aware that many of Lily's experiences were similar to that of her son; no copyright infringement is intended in any similar experiences or personalities. Sooo, here's more, including a huge mess Petunia creates that throws the Evans household into an uproar... 

**The Transition: Year Four At Hogwarts**

_By_: CNJ 

_PG-13_

**2:**

**Lily:**

"Hiiiiii!" "Hello!" My friends and I hugged in a huge three-person embrace later on that afternoon. It was so good seeing my dear friends again! 

"Hello..." Mum called from her room. Dad waved as he headed upstairs. My friends said hello to my parents, then arm-in-arm, we went into the kitchen for a snack. As we ate and drank, we talked about various things we'd done over the summer holiday. 

I saw how my friends were growing. I guess Amelia was thinking the same thing because she commented that it looked like I'd grown. 

"I have?" I looked down at myself. If the truth be told, yes, I guess I was growing. Not really much taller, but I could see that my breasts are growing. I pressed my loose red shirt against me and my friends and I grinned. 

"Well, Zara's got it," Amelia sipped her tea. 

"What..." I started, then it dawned on me. "Your period? Oh, congratulations, Zara!" I stood halfway and hugged her. Now if my turn would come soon... 

"You'll be getting yours soon," Zara told me. I nodded. It's so hard to believe we're teenagers. We talked about what we were expecting for the upcoming year. 

"I heard from my sisters that the work gets harder and you get a lot more homework and exams," Zara told us. She has two older sisters, one who's in college and another who's about to be a sixth year, and a younger one, who's going into her second year at Hogwarts. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"Dad and I will be back in a couple of hours," Mum told us after a dinner of Shepherd's Pie. 

"What about...?" I asked, my stomach tightening a bit at the thought of us being alone with Petunia. I guess Mum could tell because she reassured me that Petunia was out with Vernon and said she wouldn't be back until late. She stroked my red hair, kissed me and left with Dad. 

My friends and I had a dessert of lemon pudding and played Exploding Snap for an hour, then headed upstairs to my room. There, we talked and sanded the small wooden table I'd brought with child-minding money. It has small drawers where I can keep books and things for school. When it was time to shellac the table, I figured that we should get some more old newspapers to spare the rug. So I headed down to where Mum and Dad keep the papers...in the cellar. 

As I grabbed the papers and wadded them up, I glanced down by the door and saw something strange...like a loose tile on the floor by the door. Walking over, I saw that yes, it was a loose tile and under it were rather strange-looking leaves. They were flat and widely spaced. They also had an odd smell. Then there in a pitlike hole, I saw a bizarre-looking long thing that resembled a cigarette holder. 

"What in bloody hell..." I muttered, getting an odd feeling about it. Could it be something of Petunia's? I wondered, turning the stick around in my hand. I decided to let Mum and Dad figure it out and was starting to put it back when I heard a garble of voices and footsteps coming down the stairs. Mum...Dad? I thought at first, but a shriek startled me and I whirled around to see Petunia and Vernon glaring at me from the foot of the stairs. 

"_Just how did you find my private hole, you little freaky sneak_?!?!" Petunia bellowed, her eyes bulging. I backed away instinctively. 

"Was getting newspapers..." I said shakily. "And saw it by accident...honestly, I wasn't snooping..." I was shaking and looking for a quick way out. 

"Sure you weren't, you creep!" Petunia advanced toward me threateningly and I started to shake. "This is what I put up with from this little weird creature, Vernon, day in and day out!" Vernon also came closer, a cold grin on his face. I tried to dart around them, but Petunia pushed me back into the shelves and I let out a yelp as my shoulder hit the edge of a shelf and several pots crashed to the floor. "You'll pay for this, you spaghetti-haired nosy little brat...and don't think you can snitch to your mummy and daddy. Vernon and I need to shake you about some, so maybe you'll keep your Irish frog nose out of others' business!" 

"Should we leave her on the roof or in the fuse box?" Vernon laughed cruelly. Petunia pushed me again and this time I fell over, crashing into a shelf. Petunia stepped over me, stamping on my right foot and my left shoulder, her eyes so full of hatred that I shivered again. Desperately, I tried to turn over and sit up, but Petunia kicked me down again. A howl escaped me and then another one. The next few minutes became a blur, then suddenly, Petunia and Vernon vanished and were on the ground. 

I sat up in a daze and looked up to see my friends. "Oh...Lily!" Amelia's eyes welled with tears and she ran over and helped me up and hugged me. "Are you hurt?" 

"I...d-don't think...badly..." I managed to stammer out. Petunia and Vernon sat up and I started to shake again. 

"Don't. Touch. Her. Again." Zara pointed out her wand to them. They shrank back. 

"Let's get out of here," Petunia muttered. "We don't need to spend another minute with her bizarre friends." 

"Yes, since we married this afternoon..." Vernon added and they ran out the cellar door so fast it was as if they'd apparated. In a daze, my mind took in that they must have eloped and were now married. Zara then came over and hugged me. Slowly, we walked upstairs. Just as we were headed up to the bedroom, Mum and Dad came home. 

"Lily, dear, what happened?" Mum eyed me with concern. Just seeing her brought tears to my eyes and I leaned on her. Dad's arms came around me too. 

"Petunia was threatening her," Amelia told them. 

"She and Vernon had her on the floor and were kicking her!" Zara put in indignantly. 

"Oh my God..." Dad muttered. We went into the kitchen and Mum put on some tea and bit by bit, Amelia and Zara told my parents about the scene in the cellar. I cried on and off. 

"They eloped," Amelia told them as we drank our tea. 

"They...what?" Mum asked. 

"Eloped...this afternoon," I told them. "Said something about getting out of here..." My mind was still in a mad whirlwind like storm clouds. 

"Good riddance..." Dad mumbled. 

"Maybe they'll be gone then," Mum added. "It's high time Petunia moved out of here since she's nineteen, although marrying isn't my idea of doing it. Maybe she'll learn some responsibility. " 

Just then an owl tapped on the window and Zara went to get it. "It's letters for all of us about our school supplies...and another letter for me...and Amelia..." she finished, sounding puzzled. She sat after passing out our school notes. Mostly it was telling us what books and supplies to buy for our fourth year. 

"I hope the Ministry understands that Amelia and I were doing it out of our friend's safety!" Zara told us. 

"What is it?" I asked. 

"I got one too." Amelia stated. "A note warning us to be careful about underage magic." 

"What magic?" Mum asked. 

Amelia and Zara looked at each other. "We momentarily stunned Vernon and Petunia with our wands to get her to stop hounding Lily," Amelia explained. 

"I see," Mum nodded. "It sounds like a good reason. I'm sure they make allowances for emergencies." We spent most of the rest of the evening planning our trip to Diagon Alley to get our supplies. 

I went to bed along with my friends, but it was a long time before I went to sleep. Before they drifted off, I thanked them for saving me from Petunia and Vernon's clutches. 

"Anytime..." Amelia and Zara said softly. I'm so lucky to have them as two of my dearest friends. I thought over a lot of things, but one thing I thought over and silently accepted in my mind was that yes, Petunia was actually married to Vernon. Mum had rung the marriage license council and it was confirmed that Petunia and Vernon had married in a quick wedding and Petunia was going by Dursley now. I just hoped they'd move out of here for good. 

I also mulled over how now we were growing. Soon I'll be wearing a bra; in fact, Mum had mentioned buying me some when we got the Diagon Alley. Also we'd be getting more books, since there'd be more required reading for year four. I had the feeling that this coming year would be a year of many changes and we'd see a lot more than we'd seen in the first three years combined. I felt quite a bit older tonight. Almost fourteen, I reflected, slowly drifting off. 

More later! 


End file.
